Sally O'Neil
Sally O'Neil (born Virginia Louise Concepta Noonan; October 23, 1908 – June 18, 1968) was an American film actress of the 1920s. She appeared in more than 40 films, often with her name above the title.
Sally O'Neil

Hal Phyfe, photographer (Fox Film Corporation) · ebay: https: Archive: https: archive.ph/emrI6 · Public domain
- Name
- Sally O'Neil
- Birth Name
- Virginia Louise Concepta Noonan
- Born
- 23 October 1908
- Birthplace
- Bayonne, New Jersey, U.S.
- Died
- 18 June 1968
- Place of death
- Galesburg, Illinois, U.S.
- Occupation
- Actress
- Nationality
- United States
- Fields
- acting
- Languages
- English
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Documentary summary
Sally O'Neil (born Virginia Louise Concepta Noonan; October 23, 1908 – June 18, 1968) was an American film actress of the 1920s. She appeared in more than 40 films, often with her name above the title.
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wikidata · Q2462725 · wikipedia · Sally O'Neil
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Sally O'Neil • Birth Name — Virginia Louise Concepta Noonan • Born — 23 October 1908 • Birthplace — Bayonne, New Jersey, U.S. • Died — 18 June 1968 • Place of death — Galesburg, Illinois, U.S. • Other Names — Virginia Louise Noonan • Occupation — Actress • Years Active — 1925–1937 • Relatives — Molly O'Day (sister)
Early years
Early years
O'Neil was born Virginia Louise Concepta Noonan on October 23, 1912, or October 23, 1908, one of 11 children born to Judge Thomas Francis Patrick Noonan and his wife, Hannah Kelly, a Metropolitan Opera singer, in Bayonne, New Jersey. One of her sisters was actress Suzanne Dobson Noonan, an actress known professionally as Molly O'Day. Another sister, Isabelle, also acted in films.
Stage
Stage
Sally O'Neil appeared on Broadway in When We Are Married (1940). She continued on stage and toured with the USO until the 1950s.
Personal life
Personal life
In October 1953, O'Neil married businessman S.S. Battles. They divorced in 1957, but they soon remarried. She had a stepson and two stepdaughters.
Death
Death
O'Neil died of pneumonia in Galesburg, Illinois, aged 59, on June 18, 1968. (A contemporary source gave her age at death as 55.)
Partial filmography
Partial filmography
• Don't (1925) • Sally, Irene and Mary (1925) • Mike (1926) • The Auction Block (1926) • Battling Butler (1926) • Slide, Kelly, Slide (1927) • The Callahans and the Murphys (1927) • Frisco Sally Levy (1927) • Becky (1927) • The Lovelorn (1927) • The Battle of the Sexes (1928) • Mad Hour (1928) • Bachelor's Paradise (1928) • The Floating College (1928) • Girl on the Barge (1929) • Broadway Scandals (1929) • The Sophomore (1929) • Jazz Heaven (1929) • A Real Girl (1929) • On with the Show! (1929) • The Show of Shows (1929) • Broadway Fever (1929) • Girl of the Port (1930) • Hold Everything (1930) • Kathleen Mavourneen (1930) • Murder by the Clock (1931) • Salvation Nell (1931) • The Brat (1931) • By Appointment Only (1933) • The Moth (1934) • Beggar's Holiday (1934) • Convention Girl (1935) • Too Tough to Kill (1935) • Kathleen Mavourneen (1937)

Left to right: Frank Albertson, Sally O'Neil, and Alan Dinehart in the American comedy film The Brat (1931) - publicity still (cropped).
Fox Film Corporation · eBay

Lobby card for the American comedy film The Battle of the Sexes (1928).
United Artists · source
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Bayonne.
Birth place
Galesburg.
Death place
Films
• Illustration — Sally O'Neil in Yes, Yes, Nanette (1925), her first film appearance. Convent-educated, she started her career in vaudeville, billed as Chotsie Noonan and known for her petite but curvaceous frame and curly brown hair. She broke into films in 1925 at the Hal Roach studio, playing flappers or hoydenish tomboys in short-subject comedies. During her tenure with Roach she was billed as Sue O'Neil or Sue "Bugs" O'Neil. She was teamed with Constance Bennett and Joan Crawford in the MGM film Sally, Irene and Mary (1925), directed by Edmund Goulding, which was "her big break." She appeared with Joan Crawford again as a WAMPAS Baby Star in 1926. Her fame began to subside after silent pictures gave way to sound. Although her broad "Joisey" accent in early talkies like Jazz Heaven was unsuitable for most ingenue roles, Warner Bros. signed her to play streetwise girls in its feature films of 1929-30. After Warners released her in 1930, O'Neil freelanced at various studios. The Brat, a 1931 pre-Code film directed by John Ford, was revived at New York City's Museum of Modern Art in November 2016. A showcase for O'Neil, the movie involves a brash chorus girl's effect upon a snobbish family when their son brings her home in order to research a novel. Her last American film was released in 1935; she traveled to England in 1937 for one final film, Kathleen Mavourneen, of interest today for a guest appearance by comedian Arthur Lucan as Old Mother Riley.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.O'Dell, Cary. The Movie Star Next Door: Sally O'Neil. Classic Images. 496. 6–13. October 2016.
- 2.Easy Come, Easy Go in Movies; Sisters Now Are Bankrupt. Albuquerque Journal. United Press. 2. November 10, 1930.
- 3.Villecco, Tony. Silent Stars Speak: Interviews with Twelve Cinema Pioneers. McFarland. 122. 2001. 9780786482092.
- 4.Thomas, Dan. The Tough Job of Being a Prophet in Hollywood. The Edwardsville Intelligencer. 5. July 11, 1934.
- 5.("Sally O'Neil" search results). Playbill Vault.
- 6.Sally O'Neill, 55, Ex-Movie Actress: Star of 'The Brat' and First Talkie in Color Dies. The New York Times. Associated Press. 45. June 20, 1968.
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 18 August 2026.
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